The sounds of the forest were soothing. The birds were chirping, the wind was rustling through the towering trees, and the occasional explosion of fire added a beautiful backdrop to the otherwise calm atmosphere. A figure clothed in scorched silk stared down at the smoldering corpse of a twin-headed snake, sighing to himself at the futility of the reptile. The figure pulled a white stick out of his pocket, and a small purple flame appeared at the top of his thumb. Using the sputtering flame, the figure lit the end of the stick and inhaled from the other end of the stick. Exhaling, the figure looked around the dark and gloomy forest floor, before sighing again. “Where the fuck are these stupid elves?”

Jake had entered into the forest the previous day, following the road until it had entered into a grouping of massive trees that extended far into the sky. Gliding down to the ground, he had dispersed his wings and started walking through the woods, following the road. The first sign of life he had come across besides the common insects and small birds had been a large green panther, which he had pulled apart with his [Grasping Shadows], tearing the large cat in half with the twisting tendrils of inky darkness. Afterwards, he continued on the road, the towering trees above blocking out the sun and garbing the surroundings in twilight.

Farther along, he had come across a group of three bears with spines poking out of their backs like porcupines. The Not-So-Fuzzy Bears, when they spotted the approaching figure, released ear-shattering roars and charged. With a wave of his hand, Jake created a swirling vortex of air around each of the Porcu-Bears heads, creating a vacuum that absorbed all of the air in their lungs. The bears stopped their charges, and began to convulse on the ground, trying to find air to fill their failing lungs. Jake continued walking, ignoring the struggles of the dying beasts. He waved the notification away for the new [Stolen Breath] spell, ignoring the dose of sass that Lilith had placed in the message.

Hours later, Jake had seen a glow through the trunks of the trees. Pausing, he stared at the dancing light for a few minutes. The light bobbed up and down, welcoming him to follow it. Jake responded with a wedge of highly pressurized air towards the light, slicing through trees and shrubbery in its way like a guillotine. The light snuffed out quickly, and the sounds of screams bounded through the forest. The screams were other-worldly; echoing far more than should be natural and shivers ran down Jake’s spine at the sound. Jake stared into the dark where the light had been, then continued walking. “Not falling for that shit. ‘Oh, look! A random light in the middle of a dark and eerie forest! Better follow it!’ Fuck off.” He grumbled to himself, and continued following the road.

This continued, with the human following a winding and twisting road through the twilight of the forest while being constantly attacked and distracted by the flora and fauna of the Dark Woods. And, as such things tend to happen, Jake had gotten hopelessly lost. He had been following the road, when all of a sudden, the road had disappeared, and he could not find it again. He could not even get in contact with his pet Mizutsune, as the connection had been severed when he had died, along with the connection with his Bound back in the city of Trentshire.

Back in the present, Jake was still smoking on his cigarette and glaring into the shadowed woods with hatred. He had already tried flying through the trees and above the canopy, but all he could see was a sprawling sea of green. There were no clearings that he could see from above, and no smoke drifted through the canopy from any fires, so that plan was scrapped.

Grumbling to himself, he continued walking, cutting long scars into trees as he passed with a blade of wind, showing the direction he had headed. Stupid fucking trees and stupid fucking Elves. Why can’t there be some guiding fairy to help me get through this fucking shit, or at least music coming through the darkness so I could find this place. It’s like I’m a child again and wandering through the Lost Woods. Hell, I wouldn’t even be mad if the fairy always said things like ‘Hey! Listen!’ I just want to get the fuck out of here.

_____________________________________________________

Mizutsune yawned, curling his body into a ball beside a roaring fire. The delegation had met a representative of the Long-Ears as soon as they had entered the forest, and had been escorted to their ‘enclave’ with little trouble. The enclave was a sprawling city, for lack of a better word, that was situated at the tops of the towering trees. Huts were situated around the sprawling trunks on ‘flats’, with ladders and bridges connecting the flats with each other and other trees. The most influential of the Long-Ears lived within the trunks themselves, or were situated on the top most flat of the trees, where sunlight peaked through the large leaves of the massive Elderwood trees.

Mizutsune grew uninterested in the delegation as soon as they had reached the enclave, for the two female Half-Beasts had begun to talk to a representative of the Long-Ears as soon as they had arrived. Mizutsune did not understand the language of the Knife-Ears, but the vixen Felicia appeared to be fluent and was acting as an interpreter between the Knife-Ears and the owlet Serena. From what he could interpret, they were working to create a trade agreement between the two groups.

The fox sighed, a fog of frost expelling from his nose. He did not enjoy these talks, as he would much rather be on the forest floor hunting through the new territory, or wandering through the trees in search of interesting new smells and sounds instead of sitting around and not accomplishing anything. He was mulling over an idea on how to create a war between these two insignificant races, when something caught his attention.

A group of the Long-Ears, wearing the pelts of defeated beasts as trophies, climbed up onto the flat that the delegation was currently at, and rushed to the Long-Ear that was speaking with his Half-Beasts. Uncurling to stand at his full height, Mizutsune trotted over to be in between the rushing Long-Ears. The group stopped when the fox got in their way, growling at them with frost and fog leaking from his mouth like drool from a more savage beast.

The group of Long-Ears spoke in their strange tongue, a language of clicks and hoots that sounded far more animalistic than even the strangest beast, and the old Long-Ear responded in kind. The vixen turned to Mizutsune and spoke to him lightly. “Great Mystic Beast, allow them to pass. They mean myself and Lady Serena no harm. It appears that something has entered into the forest and is causing trouble for the hunters.” Mizutsune paused, then moved slowly to the side and sat down.

The fox made contact with Felicia, and he was ushered into her warm and welcoming conscious.

“And what is causing these Long-Ears to be so afraid, vixen?” Mizu asked the Fox-Kin with cold indifference, watching the group of hunters with cold eyes. Their strange, sharp features were curious, and the fox was having small amounts of trouble reading the emotions playing across their faces. But he could smell the fear on them.

Felicia’s warm voice responded slowly as she listened to the Long-Ears speak. “The Elven hunters have come across something that they do not understand. Many dead beasts and creatures have appeared on the road into the forest, and they have been either ripped apart, suffocated or burned to ash. They believe that a large raiding party, or possibly some immensely strong predator, has come into the forest and begun to run amok. The party is requesting for mages and shamans of the horde to help expel the being.”

Mizutsune thought for a second, before speaking. “Have the Long-Ears come into contact with this ‘being’? Have they seen what it looks like?”

Felicia spoke to the old Long-Ear, who glanced at the hunters who all shook their heads. The old Long-Ear asked the vixen a clicking and whooting question. Felicia then turned to look at Mizutsune and spoke again. “They have not. The Elder would like to know why you are asking, if you pardon the question.”

Mizutsune yawned, showing his large canines to the Long-Ears. “Because I believe I know what ‘creature’ has caused these Long-Ears to soil themselves in terror. Tell them to lead me to it.” Felicia repeated what the fox had said, with the owlet Serena looking back and forth in confusion. She had been left out of the conversation, and was thoroughly confused.

The old Long-Ear stared at the silver fox for some time, before making a hand gesture to the hunting party. The party began to jog to the edge of the flat, and scrambled down the ladders. Felicia turned back to the fox. “They will lead you. But may I ask, what is this being?”

Mizutsune began trotting over to the edge of the flat, and looked towards the ground. It was a long drop, but the fox had seen multiple small branches that he would be able to jump onto to bring him down to the forest floor. Looking at the Half-Beast with a single sapphire eye, he responded with barely concealed humor. “Just an idiotic friend. Apparently, he has gotten lost in the woods.” With that, he vaulted off of the flat, bouncing from branch to branch with grace. The fox smirked to himself when he felt the confusion rolling off of the vixen, and he pulled himself from her mind. “What would you do without me, Master?”

_______________________________________________________

Jake was pissed. He had thought that he was following a path that lead deeper into the forest, marking trees the entire way as he followed the wandering trail. It turns out that he had just been following his own footprints in the decaying leaves as he wandered in circles, coming back to the still smoldering corpse of the twin headed snake. At this point he burnt the rest of the snake into a pile of ashes and blackened bones, and continued walking away from the smell of burnt meat.

After another attack by a random grouping of Porcu-Bears, Jake had decided that he had enough for the day and found a small clearing, only large enough for him to lay down and build a fire in. Eating some of the [Roasted Bear Meat], which was very chewy and oily, he laid down, folding his arms behind his head to act as a pillow.

Hey, Giggles. You there?

I’m always here. What’s wrong, can’t find your way to grandma’s house Goldilocks?

I thought it would be Little-Red-Riding-Hood, but Goldilocks would work. And yes, I’m hopelessly lost. What the fuck is up with this forest? Jake lit up another cigarette, letting the soothing effects of nicotine enter into his bloodstream.

Nothing too special. At least nothing magical to make people lose direction, besides what forests naturally do. If you look really close, you can see that all the trees look the same!

Jake could just feel the sarcasm coming off of the loli-goddess, even if he couldn’t see her.

Yeah, shut up. So, the main reason why I’m actually talking to you instead of blowing you off like I normally do is because I have a question.

Oh my, the super powerful and smart Jake has a question for little-old me? I don’t know if I have the required knowledge to help you. Anything that you don’t understand would be lightyears ahead of what I know.

Jake sighed at the goddess. He did not respond, and just laid there taking drags on his cigarette and watching the tendrils of smoke curl and dance through the trees.

Not even a minute passed before a blue screen appeared before him, just like he knew it would.

Alright, all jokes aside. What do you want to know?

Smirking to himself, he tried to organize his thoughts to make a coherent question.

My Binding, the Lurker that I left in that Beast-Person city, why was it so… machine-like? Without a thought for itself. Is that how most people have their Bindings like? He hoped he worded the question right.

More or less. That would be the standard form of Binding, where the Bound is just an extension of the magicians magic that has gained a physical form. Think of it this way; why did your original Binding create Quelaag with full intelligence, while your second attempt just created a mindless creature?

Jake slowly took another drag, the gears in his head spinning. The only thing that I can think of is because I know pretty much all about the lore behind Quelaag. The other one was just a common mob, even if it was really powerful. Jake thought back to where he had pulled the Binding of Dark from. A game, where a normal humanoid gained the power of a dragon and was able to scream in their language to create substantial effects, like pushing goats off of mountains.

Right in one. To create a Transcended Bound, you would need to understand everything about the creature you’re trying to create. It worked for spider-lady, since you went full nerd into the lore of the game. The Lurker, on the other hand, was just what you described: a mob, a creature for you to kill. It meant nothing to you, and the Binding reflected that. Actually, I’m surprised that you haven’t tried to Bind the demons that you had as a Warlock back on earth. You’ve been with them long enough that they should come out Transcended.

Jake froze, and the cigarette that he had raised to his mouth slipped out of his fingers and landed ember first onto his throat. Yelping, Jake slapped at his burned throat, flicking the glowing ember off of his skin. His mind finally caught up to what Lilith had told him, and he groaned.

I did not think of that. Why didn’t I think of that? That’s a great fucking idea.

Because you’re an idiot?

Shut up. It’s hard working through this-

Jake’s thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of rustling in the dark forest surrounding him. Darting to his feet, he looked out into the darkness. Purple flames erupted from his raised hands, bathing his arms in fire. Black tendrils exploded from his back, waving into the air like the feelers of insects, tasting the air and preparing to strike. A small twister of air formed around the human, causing dead leaves and twigs to be caught and spun around his body, creating a make-shift shield. He had been working on this form of defense, using his three elements to the best of his abilities.

Waiting, Jake stared into the darkness, his hazel eyes reflecting the purple flames. He could not hear anything from the forest, but he was prepared for the worst. He would not be taken by surprise again, and he sure as shit was not going back to that horrible Dark Place.

A cold, and familiar, presence pushed against his consciousness, and a smile split Jake’s face as he welcomed back his friend.

Mizu! You’re back!

Mizutsune’s cold voice, happiness at being reunited leaking through the bond, reverberated through Jake’s mind.

“I am. I have missed you, Master. The Long-Ears are nothing but trouble, and their ways are confusing. I was here with a group of hunters, but your show of power seemed to have scared those poor excuses of predators away.” The fox grumbled to Jake, as his shimmering silver coat pushed its way through the underbrush into the light of the fire. To Jakes surprise, the fox had grown larger. Mizutsune shook his coat, dislodging a few leaves that gripped onto his silky fur. “Those hunters reeked of fear the entire way to you. I must say, Master, that… Wait, is everything alright, Master?” Mizutsune paused, sniffing loudly.

“There is a scent that I do not remember wafting off of you. One of death, and fear. Did something happen while you were gone?” The fox asked with concern, and, shuddering at reliving the memories, Jake gave the fox a glimpse of what he had experienced while he had died. The fox was shocked, his hair standing on end and his legs quivering slightly.

“Master, that… That was the Devourer. It is supposedly a creature of immense power that resides in the worst of the Hells, and destroys any soul that encounters it. How… How are you still alive?” The fox asked, his normally reserved and cold voice breaking, fear evident through their bond.

Jake sighed, shrugging. “No fucking clue.” He stated, switching the conversation to verbal without thinking. “There was some shadowy-dude that brought me back from there, and he had Giggles tied up in her white, foggy place. I don’t know who it was, but he had to be a god.”

Mizutsune stared at Jake for a moment, then relaxed, breathing a sigh of frosted air into the dark. “We will have much to talk about, Master. But we need to return to the Long-Ears home. I believe that the cowardly hunters have already returned, and we had best hurry before they send the entirety of their horde against you. I do not want you to return to that place, Master. Possibly even more than you do.”

With that, Mizutsune began walking into the darkness, Jake following after the fox, extinguishing the magic surrounding him. A screen appeared, and, grudgingly, he decided to review it.

New Spell Created: Tri-Elemental Battle-Armament Oh, look at you. One brush with death and the things that lurk beyond, and you’re using all of your magical might to stop yourself from going back. I would call you a coward, but that place is definitely terrifying. Mana Use: 300 Mana Sacrificed (Sacrificed Mana will not be regenerated)

Fuck off Giggles. I thought you wanted me to use all of my strengths and not hide behind only one? He grumbled to himself while following his fox through the woods, Mizutsune occasionally stopping and sniffing, finding the trail that he and the Elves had taken from the enclave.

I did, but you kind of went overboard. And, besides, how else am I going to tease you? I could keep bringing up the demons that you haven’t summoned, or how you’re going to explain the fact that you are a master of THREE different elements to your Owl-Princess.

Jake stared at the message, freezing for a moment.

“Shit.”

Mizutsune’s cold chuckles rebounded through his mind. “And, let’s not forget the fact that you’ve come back from the dead. Needlessly to say, Master, but this does not happen with most beings.” The fox had stopped and was staring at Jake with his sapphire eyes twinkling. “She was nearly frantic with her please to ‘Go back’ and to ‘Save him’.” The fox was laughing harder now, his body shaking with barely contained mirth. “Watching her reaction to seeing you alive will be quite humerous.”

Jake groaned. The laughter from his companion, mixed with a blue screen that simply read “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” carried him through the dark forest. And he could do nothing, since they were right. He had dug himself a hole in a pile of shit, and he had decided to throw away the shovel.